


One Moment out of Many

by nivu_vu



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mention of sex, Post-Weirdmageddon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 06:44:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6184738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nivu_vu/pseuds/nivu_vu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just one moment taking place when the Stans are out at sea when Stanley asks his brother a question that Stanford expected to have probably come a lot sooner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Moment out of Many

"Didja ever meet a girl in all those dimensions?"

Ford was taken aback and almost dropped the map of constellations he had been comparing to the night sky above them. "That was. Sudden."

"It's all the salt in the air," Stan said casually, waving a hand around as he let his chest sink onto the railing. "And these stars. Makes me all mushy and thinking. Kinda like you, bro."

Ford adjusted the paper in his hands. "I believe you mean thoughtful, Stanley."

"I believe you're proving my point, poindexter."

Ford chuckled. "The answer's no, by the way."

Stan turned around so that he could look at the back of Ford's head. "What? No way. No alien babes? Or tentacle beast? " He wriggled his fingers around.

Ford rolled up the map and spun around with a horrified expression. "What was that?"

"Uh. Just something I heard Soos talk about one time." Stan shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's nothing."

That answer did not really satisfy Ford's ever curious mind. But if there was anything he had learned, it was that some things were better left a mystery. Not that that really stopped him when he was really intrigued, though. Like last week when he insisted on investigating that strange lone ice floe and had nearly been breakfast for a creature of the deep. It was quite fascinating how many tongues one fish could have.

"What about you, Stanley? You've always had better luck with women."

Stan looked awkward suddenly. He spat out quickly, "Well. I got married and divorced in the span of maybe lunch and dinner. So that happened."

His awkwardness was not helped by Ford doubling over in laughter.

"Hey! It was a moment of weakness!"

"Right. Yes, of course," Ford managed to say. He finally straightened up after a good minute, and Stan, the ever-loyal brother he was, stood quietly, arms crossed, waiting.

"Ya done?" 

Ford brought a hand to his chest to steady himself. "For now."

An ocean breeze wafted over them, and Ford all of a sudden felt small. Out here in the middle of the sea, it was like being sucked through the portal again for the first time. His world, his cosmos, everything was so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. At least, that was how he had felt at the beginning. A side-effect of being so involved in a universe this infinite was learning to look at the small players. And Stanford Pines was nothing if not attentive to minute details.

Stan's words halted his train of thought. "Reeling them in is easy, though. Loving is hard."

It must truly have something to do with the ocean, Ford decided. He didn't remember a time Stanley had been so candid since their time as children, and that had been a lifetime ago. But ever since they had started their journey on the high seas, Stan had been open in a way that Ford thought his brother had long forgotten.

Ford intended to take full advantage of this. "I've only held amorous feelings for another twice in my life."

Stan snorted. "That's more'n me."

"Yes, well, mine are far more embarrassing." Ford hid his hands behind his back. No amount of years had been successful in breaking him of this habit. However, right now, he wanted to hide more than his hands. He wondered if his brother could see straight through him and remember to what Ford was referring to.

This had been a subject that Ford had no idea how to even begin to broach. He didn't know the extent to which Stan's memories had been recovered - even though Stan _insisted_ that all his memories were back. Well, it was less insistence and more Stan would give Ford a punch on the shoulder, a "gimme some credit, sixer," and Ford would have to laugh with him. It was just so very Stanley.

If Stan had in fact regained all his memories, though, it made Ford wonder if this piece of their past was something Stan preferred to be buried. Stan would have brought it up otherwise, right?

An arm was slung over Ford's shoulders. "Try me, sixer. I've seen a few things in my time."

"You were there for one of them. You don't remember?" Ford asked tentatively.

Stan scooted in front of Ford and placed a hand on either shoulder. He looked hard into his brother's cracked glasses, squinting slightly, like that could somehow help him read minds. The corners of his mouth perked up. "Jog my memory. I'm getting old."

The grin on his brother's face caused Ford's throat to close up. "I-It's quite embarrassing, Stanley." In spite of the cool night air, Ford could feel his face starting to heat up. He looked at a spot on the floor, a spot far, far away from his brother's obnoxious smile. Stan was like a cat who had caught a mouse and was fully intent on playing with its prey before eating it.

It brought Ford back to when they were in high school, and Stan was teasing him about who always seemed to be on his mind all over again.

Stan did not dignify what he said with words, choosing only to raise a brow almost impossibly high.

Shaking his head, Ford said, "This is something you'll have to remember yourself."

Stan scoffed and dropped his arms in defeat. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," said Ford as nonchalantly as he could manage, which was not very nonchalantly at all.

"Hmm." Stan brought a hand up to his chin quizzically. "I don't think I ever recall you falling in love twice, though."

The ocean breeze became like a sheet of ice. "Well, that was when I was off on my own. I suppose it would be alright to confide in y-"

"So there _were_ alien babes!"

"It was Bill."

Stan's mouth clamped shut. His eyes were a mix of surprise and confusion.

After another few seconds of no verbal response, Ford continued. "I had my moments of weakness, too, Stanley. It was so lonely- Actually, no. I made it lonely. Believing I was meant to be the keeper of our dimension. My hubris was my downfall."

Stan punched him in the shoulder. Ford had believed he was better at reading Stan, but the younger twin was laughing in a way that was far too calm for someone who just heard his brother had been in love with some one-eyed demonic polygon.

It was Ford's turn to raise a dubious brow. "You're taking this rather well. Do you not believe me?"

"No, it's just-" Stan paused to breathe and wipe a tear from his eye "-you always gotta stand out from the crowd, don't you, sixer?"

Ford could feel his face burning again. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, really?" Stan put his arm around his brother's shoulders again, leaning in a lot closer this time. "Come on, first you fall for your twin brother-" Ford choked on air "-and then some triangle from another dimension?"

"Well." Ford coughed awkwardly into his fist, looking in another direction this time, which was still far, far away from Stan. "I thought you said you didn't remember."

Stan seemed to ignore that last part as he went on, "But hey. What do I know? I was the one sucking my brother's cock when my parents were asleep down the hall."

"Stanley!" Ford was melting underneath his own skin, from fear, embarrassment, joy, or some unholy concoction of all the above. He didn't know. He also didn't know when his hands had clenched into fists at his sides.

"What? Not like anyone's here to judge us except the ghosts on the waters," said Stan with a shrug. He exhaled a sigh of mist into the chill. "We really were a duo, huh?"

"Most had said we were unnaturally close for siblings." Ford punctuated this statement by leaning his head on his brother's arm. 

"Look at you. You're an old man. Reminiscing 'bout the younger days like there aren't any more days ahead of us."

Ford scoffed, "Please, you have more than enough wrinkles for both of us."

Stan smirked at his brother. "Wanna see for yourself?"

That was the moment Ford decided his brother was nothing but a knucklehead and that this conversation had fallen over the railing and into the abyss of the ocean. And he couldn't help but laugh.

"Heh. I still got it, don't I?" Stan said with true and utter confidence.

Ford answered that with the most careful kiss on his brother's lips, which was returned immediately. And it was as if Ford was living in a nostalgic daydream. For all those years he had spent alone and wishing there was some way to return to before Stan had been kicked out, he never imagined it would be this satisfying.

Ford pulled back an inch and pressed his forehead against Stan's. "Yes, you do."


End file.
